L-S volleyball continues historic run, advances to regional final

SULLY — Once Lynnville-Sully’s volleyball team got past the first set and the big-match jitters, the Hawks simply dominated conference rival HLV on Monday during a Class 1A Region 5 semifinal matchup.

Lynnville-Sully had five service errors in the opening frame and lost by four, but the Hawks got 16 kills from Majesta Vos and double-doubles from both Elise Alberts and Alexy Conover during their 21-25, 25-14, 25-20, 25-10 home triumph.

“It feels good. It’s awesome,” Vos said. “Our team chemistry was good. I felt confident in the team and that makes me feel confident in myself. We worked together, encouraged each other and didn’t get down when we lost the first game, which I thought was really important.”

The victory moves the Hawks to the regional championship match for the first time since 2005. They will face fourth-ranked BCLUW at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Marshalltown.

Neither Vos nor senior libero Carsyn McFarland knew if Lynnville-Sully had ever been to a regional final.

L-S head volleyball coach Kyra Smith remembers the match vividly. She was a senior on the Hawks’ squad which lost to Don Bosco inside the Marshalltown Roundhouse.

“I knew playing at Marshalltown was going to be an option,” Smith said. “And I can’t wait to tell the girls that I want a different outcome. Let’s capitalize on it and see what happens. It will be fun. I can’t wait.”

The Hawks (17-12) never really got their footing in the opening set. Three kills from Aubree Arthur put the home team up 4-3, but HLV rallied behind three straight aces from Raegen Stowell.

Missed serves by L-S put the Warriors in front 9-5, 10-7, 11-8 and 13-9. Then Ema Roberts took over. HLV’s best player had three kills and an ace over a five-point stretch and that put the visitors in front 18-10.

The Hawks rallied with eight straight though. A long service run by Alberts included an ace and back-to-back kills by Vos.

The set also was tied at 19- and 21-all, but the Warriors scored four straight to seal the victory.

“We didn’t have anything to lose,” Smith said. “We didn’t care if we had to win it in five games. We need to control what we can control and missed serves is not our thing.

“We were hitting it past the back line every time so we just moved back some and adjusted.”

Lynnville-Sully broke away from a 4-all tie in the second set with a 6-0 run that featured two kills by from Paige James and a block and a kill from Vos.

Another 8-0 run put the Warriors (16-18) away for good. That stretch included three kills from Vos and a pair from Conover. HLV outscored the Hawks down the stretch, but L-S did enough to close out the set.

Vos added two assists, two blocks and four digs to her match-high 16 kills. Her kill efficiency was .417.

“She has grown so much in how she swings,” Smith said about Vos. “It used to be just swing hard all the time and see what happens. She knew if she got double-blocked on the right to tip it to the right. That’s what we practiced and that’s what she did.”

The two teams exchanged service errors early in the third set, but back-to-back kills by Arthur made it 5-3 and tip kills by Arthur and Alaina Roberts extended the lead to 8-3.

Three straight blasts from Vos pushed the advantage to 11-8. HLV got within 11-10, but a tip and two aces by Conover helped the Hawks separate to 15-11.

Back-to-back kills by James, a kill by Vos and an ace by James made it 21-15. Vos added two kills down the stretch, including the final blast that put the Hawks up 2-1 in the match.

“To be able to get the second set was huge,” Smith said. “That gives you momentum to keep going.

“The environment helped, but I think we also had jitters in the first game because we knew it was packed. The gym is not usually packed. That was a new thing.”

L-S had no issues in the fourth set. The Hawks led 4-0 and 10-1 thanks in part to two aces and a kill by Conover.

Conover finished with 12 kills in the match and seven came in the final set. Three consecutive blasts made it 21-4 and she finished off the win with a final kill several points later.

Conover’s double-double included 12 kills, 13 digs and three aces. Her kill efficiency was .231.

Alberts finished with 28 assists, 11 digs and two aces, Arthur tallied nine kills and five digs and Roberts collected eight assists, eight digs and two kills.

McFarland chipped in 12 digs and James finished with six kills, two digs and three aces. James posted a kill efficiency of .250.

The Hawks were 76-of-86 in serves with nine aces and their kill efficiency was .257. Alberts served 20-of-20 and Arthur was 17-of-18.

Ema Roberts finished her season with 331 kills and 261 digs. She finished the match with 11 kills, six digs and two aces, but the Warriors struggled the most when she was in the back row.

“We knew she was their big hitter. We knew she would hit it from anywhere so you just have to know where she’s at,” McFarland said. “We did a lot of scouting reports on her and we knew even if she was in the back row she would hit it no matter what.”

Smith said taking advantage of HLV when Roberts was in the back row was part of their game plan. They set up their rotation to account for her positioning on the floor.

“We rotated our lineup to where we thought she’d be. And they adjusted, too, after the first two sets. That’s just good volleyball,” Smith said. “We got some touches on both 11 and 6 and after a while they either quit swinging or they didn’t swing as hard. We tried to slow down the ball as much as possible.”

No. 11 is Ema Roberts and No. 6 is Mckenzie Kempf. She finished with nine kills, 13 digs and two aces. Addy Shaull added 23 digs and the Warriors were 57-of-62 in serves with 10 aces. HLV’s kill efficiency was .205.

The Hawks started the season 10-2 and then lost 10 of their next 12 matches. L-S takes a five-match win streak into the regional finals.

“We decided we just had to win,” Vos said. “It’s our senior year for a lot of us, and we want to go out strong. We want to make it to state.”

McFarland said a key to the turnaround involved better communication.

“That got really bad at one point,” McFarland said. “We just figured out we have to work as a team and it can’t be a single person doing everything.

“It feels very awesome. We haven’t made this far in who knows how long.”

Notes: No. 4 BCLUW (33-10) has been ranked in the top 10 all season and goes into the regional final winners of 12 of its last 13 matches. The Comets swept Sigourney 25-8, 25-15, 25-15 in their regional semifinal match. Sydney Anderson headlines the roster. She ranks fifth in 1A with 794 assists and fourth with 90 aces. She also has 228 digs. Six players have at least 100 kills and freshman Olivia Peters leads the way with 203. Four Comets have at least 189 digs with Callie Swanson having a team-best 400. “My assistants have looked at them a little bit,” Smith said. “We’ll be prepared. It’s going to have to be an error-less night though. We are going to do our best to avoid serves and hits out and we’re going to have to be patient and play good defense. That’s what we will work on.”